


Bye Bye Blues

by Amarokster



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Anxiety, Big Bang Challenge, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, katsudon in space, space racism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-13
Updated: 2018-06-13
Packaged: 2019-05-21 16:48:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14919167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amarokster/pseuds/Amarokster
Summary: Yuuri had been moody for the past few weeks on the ship, and while Victor knew the cause, he didn't understand the reaction.It’s not like it had been some cosmic calamity, an unexpected disaster, some personal slight--just a tiny footnote in the news: the end of the planet Earth.





	Bye Bye Blues

**Author's Note:**

> My fanfic for the Reverse Viktuuri Bang!
> 
> [dyeingdoll](http://dyeingdoll.tumblr.com) was lovely enough to be a pinch hitter for me and made the gorgeous art here. I am not worthy!!!
> 
> You can find me on Tumblr [here](http://amarokster.tumblr.com), where I forget to post anything.

_Yuuri had been moody for the past few weeks on the ship, and while Victor knew the cause, he didn't understand the reaction._

_It’s not like it had been some cosmic calamity, an unexpected disaster, some personal slight--just a tiny footnote in the news: the end of the planet Earth._

 

* * *

NOW

* * *

_Ding!_

With a cheery little chime, the door on the replicator popped open, and a tray full of food shot out onto the counter with a clatter, the bowl of soup in the middle wobbling dangerously but somehow not spilling over. 

Victor snatched up his tray and quickly made his way back to the main part of the mess hall where officers and crew members alike gathered to catch a much-needed break and refuel. The mixed-species crew of the _Nightingale_ provided for a colorful bunch, with hulking, horned figures seated next to slighter human comrades, furred creatures whose hoarse laughter sounded more like growls than any kind of glee, and fey-like beings whose enigmatic smiles added to the air of mystery apparent in their translucent, glowing skin. Crew members of all species called out to Victor when they saw him draw near, waving him over and inviting him to sit with them, but he waved them off with a smile and an excuse. 

Not today. No, today he had someone he needed to keep an eye on. 

Victor tuned out the chatter around him, and the many languages blurred together into a background buzz. He glanced around the room, his eyes flitting over the faces around him before finally settling on a fluffy mop of dark hair on a lone figure seated at a small table next to the viewport. _There he is_. Victor weaved his way through the room and made his way over before sliding his tray onto the table and settling into the chair across from the other man. 

“Yuuri.” Victor disregarded the way the other man jerked up in surprise. He’d clearly been lost in thought, and his brown eyes grew wide behind his glasses before setting into what had recently become a familiar dour squint. Victor made an effort to smile at him despite the somber expression on his face. “Space goo again today, huh?” Victor asked gingerly and pointed at Yuuri’s tray. 

Yuuri looked down at the table for a moment, where his spoon was stuck in a rather unappetizing, viscous pile of gelatinous grey goop. “So what?” Yuuri shot back. “In the end, it’s… It’s just the same as what you’re having, isn’t it?” He gestured over to Victor’s tray with his free hand.

“Yuuri,” Victor said with a sigh, “I know your eyesight’s bad, but I’m _clearly_ having soup and a sandwich. I admit that today’s choice of soup is more suited for Trexxan taste than human, so calling it food is kind of debatable, but it’s still better than… Whatever that is.” He gave Yuuri’s tray a distasteful frown. “There’s no way I could stomach that stuff every day like you have been for the past two weeks.”

Yuuri nudged his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Victor, the replicator provides a nutritionally sound combination of ingredients and nutrients for each member of the crew here, with the right amount of calories tailored for each individual out of the same base ingredients. It’s only due to the transformative properties of the replicator technology that anything we eat even vaguely resembles food, and that’s only changing the external appearances and perception of flavor. It’s only your ability to sustain your disbelief that has you convinced you’re eating food when the materials used remain fundamentally the same for everyone.”

“...Meaning?”

“You’re eating space goo,” Yuuri said drolly, the barest hint of a wry smile sweeping across his features before he seemed to lose his spark again. “I’m just the only one who’s decided not to lie to myself about it.” He picked his spoon back up and started mechanically eating the contents of his plate, managing to mostly hide his grimace when the spoon hit his mouth.

“Ah, Yuuri, sometimes I think you should’ve been a science officer.” Victor sighed. “You don’t need to do this to yourself, though. Who cares what it’s made of? If you weren’t being so stubborn, you could be eating something appetizing instead of subjecting yourself to this,” Victor reprimanded as he dunked one corner of his sandwich into his soup. “What did you even say to the replicator? ‘One portion of self-punishing gruel, please’? In fact, I’m pretty sure it takes _more_ work to get the replicator to spit out that instead of something that actually resembles food.”

“It’s not the same as real food,” Yuuri said stubbornly. “It’s just not the same, and I don’t feel like pretending right now.” He looked out of the viewport, his eyes focused on some unknown out in the dark depths of the cosmos. “I want something real again. You wouldn’t understand.” Yuuri kept his gaze on the view outside, his posture closed-off. 

Victor had to admit to himself that Yuuri was right--at least about Victor not understanding. Victor had been on ships for nearly as long as he could remember, born and raised in a busy spaceport before being shuttled away to the Milky Way’s premier academy for humans, and then right into the crew of the _Nightingale_ following his first internship. After spending a lifetime in front of replicators, Victor struggled to comprehend why anyone would prefer cooking when it was such a huge waste of resources, time, and energy. His vague recollections of the times he’d eaten “real” food and cooked meals were mostly memories of being amazed at how much time was spent for the sake of something so imperfect when he could’ve had exactly what he wanted from a replicator in mere seconds.

“Ah, fine,” Victor huffed. “What could a space rat like myself understand, right?” he teased, trying to keep his tone light but sure that the smile on his face had to appear strained, even to someone as distracted as Yuuri. 

“It’s not like that,” Yuuri snapped. “You know it isn’t.” 

Victor sighed. “I didn’t mean anything by it. I just wanted to check on you, see how you were doing today. You can’t blame me for trying to get you back on real food.”

Yuuri’s frown only grew deeper. “I told you it’s not real food, and I’m an a grown man, Victor. I’ll be fine even without you checking in on me.” 

Yuuri, normally so quick to smile when he saw Victor, so eager for his attention and so open and affectionate, was clearly not fine and hadn’t been since the news broke. If his attitude hadn’t been enough to give it away, his choice of food, his pale, drawn face, and the bags under his eyes would’ve said it all. 

“Yuuri, we should really talk about things. I’ve been trying to wait it out, but I can’t watch you do this to yourself-” Victor started, reaching out to touch Yuuri out of habit, but he drew his hand back when he saw Yuuri’s lips tremble in a familiar way that signalled an oncoming onslaught of angry tears.

“You know, on second thought, I’m not hungry,” Yuuri cut in, standing up to go with his barely-touched tray. 

Yuuri was like fire and ice lately, bouncing between cold distance and heated outbursts of frustration. Victor wasn’t sure what he could do to help, and more often than not it seemed like his attempts at comforting Yuuri only backfired.

“Yuuri,” Victor said softly.

“I’ll see you after my shift, OK?” Yuuri wouldn’t look him in the eyes.

“OK. I love you.” 

“...love you too,” Yuuri mumbled and squeezed his hand before picking up his tray and walking away.

It was enough. It would have to be enough, at least until Victor could figure out what to do, or until time and distance could work their magic and help Yuuri get back to his old self again.

Yuuri had been moody for the past few weeks on the ship now, and while Victor knew the cause, he still didn't completely understand the reaction.

It’s not like it had been some cosmic calamity, an unexpected disaster, some horrible personal slight--just a tiny footnote in the news: the end of the planet Earth. 

It hadn’t exactly come as a surprise, timing aside, and the only casualty out of the whole thing seemed to be Yuuri’s pride. Yuuri had always been so proud of his heritage, and to have it snatched away from him had left him fractured in a way Victor wasn’t sure how to mend. When the news broke, Yuuri had burst into tears, as Victor suspected he might, but while Yuuri usually bounced back in times of trouble once he let his feelings out, stronger than ever, this time he seemed to withdraw into himself instead. Victor could only do his best to put together the puzzle pieces behind Yuuri’s continuing moodiness.

He’d tried distracting Yuuri, but it didn’t work for long before Yuuri was back to sulking or secluding himself in a training room to practice combat exercises mindlessly against the AI for hours on end. 

He’d tried talking things out with Yuuri, but Yuuri had made it clear that he was determined to deal with everything on his own, stubborn and caught up in his own thoughts. 

Finally, he’d tried waiting patiently for Yuuri to sort through his feelings alone, but he’d reached his limits for that after seeing Yuuri look like a wilting flower day after day. 

He needed to do something that would either get Yuuri to open up or cheer him up, but Victor had no idea where to start. More often than not these days, he hardly even got a chance to speak to Yuuri when they were both of-duty, and he was starting to suspect Yuuri was avoiding him.

Tonight was no exception.

When Victor came back to their quarters that night, the room was silent outside of the hiss of the door sliding closed behind him. The lights were already off, and Yuuri was curled up on top of the bed, his silhouette lit with a soft glow from the data terminal on their nightstand. 

Victor perched himself on the edge of the bed and reached over to run his fingers through Yuuri’s hair. Yuuri’s face was gentle in sleep, open and unguarded, and he looked at peace for once. It was a shame that it was only in sleep that Yuuri seemed to be getting a break from his gloomy mood lately. Victor didn’t want to ruin Yuuri’s moment of peace, though, so even though he was feeling starved for touch himself, Victor settled for sitting close enough that he could feel Yuuri’s warm weight behind him. 

Victor pulled up the screen on the terminal and flicked through the various subscreens Yuuri had left running. He sighed when he saw his suspicions confirmed that Yuuri had been reading articles about Earth again. The articles all said the same thing and only seemed to make him feel worse, but Victor kept catching him reading about it. Why did Yuuri do this to himself? What was he hoping to find in these? 

Victor let his eyes sweep over today’s choice.

_Earth Out With a Whimper_

_The planet Earth, slated for enforced deportation and designation as an uninhabitable planet in 2.862009, was fully evacuated earlier this month after a committee decision in the United Senate to expedite the process._

_Concerns had been raised before about the continuing drain of financial resources required to maintain the 27 remaining biodomes across the planet’s surface, and matters were finally brought to a head when Senator Glaskin gave an impassioned speech on the floor that lasted nearly two hours and contained damning financial projections and analysis from some of the top financial advisors this side of the Milky Way._

_When asked for comment, Senator Veelax said the following: “To maintain this dead planet any longer is an astronomical misuse of our resources, and I’m glad the committee came to a consensus on the matter. Speaking personally, how anyone can look at that dried-out husk and think that we have to preserve anything there, it’s beyond me. This is a sensible, fiscally responsible step for humanity, and I look forward to exploring options for redirecting the funding towards humanity’s future instead of clinging on to the past.”_

_The planet has been declared a no-clearance zone, and officials plan on updating the planet’s status in all registries after doing a final surface sweep._

_The remaining residents on the planet were offered substantial compensation for relocation, and now the last of the Earthlings can be found spread out across the galaxy, with many choosing to stay close to their old home in the Milky Way. For the planet itself, though, the lights are off, and nobody’s home._

Victor grimaced. There was no solace to be found here, but Yuuri was a grown man, as he’d told Victor, and Victor couldn’t stop him from running himself into the ground like this. 

What could he do, then? 

Yuuri was so stubborn, and although he’d opened his heart to Victor long ago, it was in times like this that old habits started to take over, leaving Yuuri distant and withdrawn. 

Victor lay down next to Yuuri, taking care not to wake or disturb him, and he stared up at the ceiling in silence.

There had to be something Victor could do to see Yuuri smiling again. He just didn’t know what it was. 

The majority of Victor’s knowledge of Earth came from Yuuri, and even then, it had come in bits and pieces over the years, the memories growing fuzzy with time and overshadowed by all the other occasions in their lives together. The only things that were clear throughout it all were Yuuri’s love of his home planet, his fierce protectiveness over his culture and the pride in who he was despite how many had looked down upon him for it, humans and other species alike.

Maybe Victor had seen some hint over the years that would clue him in on why this was hurting Yuuri so much. Maybe there was a spark of inspiration that would lead Victor to take action in a way that would cheer up Yuuri and get him back to his old self again. 

Maybe Victor just wanted an excuse to reminisce on better times out of his own feelings of loneliness, though he wouldn’t admit it to himself.

He wrapped his arms around Yuuri’s side and curled up next to him, letting his forehead rest against Yuuri’s back. He felt the quiet rise and fall of Yuuri’s chest with each breath, and he closed his eyes in the darkness to listen to the sound of Yuuri’s familiar quiet snores. Lulled by the warmth of his presence, so close and yet so far, he slowly drifted off to sleep with thoughts of days long gone. 

* * *

THEN

* * *

When Victor spotted a slight figure slipping into the lecture hall 10 minutes after class had already begun, he couldn’t help feeling irritated. This was, what, the third time this week? 

Victor had busted his balls to get into the government-sponsored academy, he was busting his balls to stay there, and then there was this guy, waltzing into class weeks after the term had already started. And he wasn’t even on time now that he’d finally started showing up. 

Victor had no idea what his deal was, but he knew he didn’t like him. The sight of him alone was enough to distract Victor and make him lose his focus. Yes, the very sight of this latecomer left Victor prickly and put-off, all of his focus lost in the face of an irrational anger that he couldn’t stop from welling up inside himself.

Speaking of which… Victor scowled, realizing he’d completely tuned out their professor’s lecture after getting distracted. 

Misery loved company, though, so Victor decided that if he was already off track, he might as well drag someone else along with him. 

“ _Chris.”_ Victor whispered quietly, poking the student next to him. “Do you know who he is?” 

“Hm? Who?” Chris idly tapped his stylus against the side of his display, only halfway listening. As always, he looked like a lazy cat that had just woken up from a nap, and his drooping gaze walked the fine line between sleepy and seductive.. 

“ _Him._ Mr. No-Show. _”_ Victor nudged Chris in the side again and nodded down at the student a few rows in front of them. “What’s his problem?”

Chris’s gaze flicked down momentarily. “Oh, him? Katsuki? Late transfer. I heard he was stuck in quarantine for weeks waiting for clearance. Poor sucker, right?” He sounded decidedly uninterested, which somehow only made Victor feel more irritated.

“Quarantine? What, was he sick or something? He looked OK to me.” Victor tried to recall something about this Katsuki, but nothing much came to mind--just a vague image of an annoying, unfamiliar figure hunched over a display or sneaking into a seat in a lecture hall.

Chris leaned over, a conspiratorial smirk on his face. “No. He’s not sick. He’s from _Earth_.” 

“Bullshit,” Victor immediately countered. Earth wasn’t a place people were _from_. Earth was a place people only ever went to on low-budget field trips as a kid in integrated school, where you’d listen to lectures about the blue planet and the origins of humanity, leading up to the anticlimactic, disappointing moment where you actually approached the planet and saw nothing but empty swaths of arid desert. If your school really wanted to go all-out, they’d take you down to the surface and shuttle you around to the few sad, tiny biodomes that had been set up to act as a preservation of history but came across as more of a cheesy reenactment. 

Saying that you were from Earth was the equivalent of saying that you were from a zoo, and as one of the species on display. 

Chris scoffed. “No bullshit, I swear on my honor.” After Victor gave him a withering look, he followed up with, “OK, maybe not on my honor. My mother’s honor?”

“How could he be from Earth, though?” Victor leaned to the side and craned his neck, trying to get a look at the supposed Earthling’s face. He couldn’t catch more than the back of his head, though, which didn’t tell him much. “From what I remember, he looked so…”

“Cute?” Chris waggled his eyebrows.

“Normal,” Victor said firmly. Victor couldn’t even recall his face, to be honest, he’d been so swept up in irritation at the very sight of him, but he was reluctant to admit it.

“Hmmm?” Chris sounded doubtful, but he didn’t linger on it. “Anyway, supposedly this Yuuri Katsuki’s a poster boy for planet Earth, you know, one of those charity cases before the whole thing blows. Full ride scholarship to the academy and everything.” Upon seeing Victor’s blank face, he sighed. “Don’t you read any of those bulletins the dean keeps sending out?”

“Nope,” Victor replied, emphasis on the _p_ , and tossed his hair over his shoulder. “I can’t believe you do, honestly.” 

“Well, you should start,” Chris replied. “Then you wouldn’t have to bother me for news from the rumor mill.” He rolled his eyes and went back to paying attention to the lecture. Like Victor probably should’ve been doing. 

The Earthling-- _Katsuki_ , Victor reminded himself-- shifted in his seat, and Victor finally got a better look at him: Fast asleep with his face propped up on one hand, chubby cheek squishing into his palm, glasses askew on his forehead, long, dark lashes sweeping across olive skin, plump lips slightly parted, and his datapad still clutched precariously in his other hand, a picture of a fluffy animal of some kind visible on-screen.

It annoyed Victor to have to admit it, but yeah. 

He was cute.

\---------------------------------------

After he learned that this Yuuri Katsuki was from Earth, Victor was intrigued, and he kept an eye on him. Victor had always been curious about the unknown, and he was here at the academy training for a life of exploration, wasn’t he? It was hard to find something more unknown than a person from a planet that humanity hadn’t called home for a long time, a planet long forgotten and abandoned. 

There was also some part of Victor that felt guilty for judging his classmate when apparently the whole reason Katsuki had been absent or late was because he was stuck cutting through red tape, not any fault of his own. Victor wanted to make amends and maybe find a good opportunity to talk to him.

Going by the wide-eyed wonder Katsuki seemed to have at some rather mundane, everyday things, it seemed likely that Katsuki had never even left the tiny, insular community on the

Earth before now. Victor couldn’t help but wonder what had drawn someone like that to study here. Maybe it was just as Chris had said, nothing more than a showy bit of charity, but that still didn’t answer why Katsuki was here instead of some other Earthling, or why Katsuki had accepted in the first place and left behind a home that was soon to be gone for good.

Victor wanted to know more.

When they had class together, Victor would try to grab a spot near him and observe. Victor had never seen an Earthling--who had, really?--and he couldn’t help being curious to know if Earthlings were really so different from the rest of humanity. 

When Victor spotted Katsuki eating alone at a table in the academy’s mess hall, Victor would find a spot to sit where he could casually watch him. Did Earthlings eat the same things as everyone else? If Katsuki had to go into an extensive quarantine just to be cleared to enter the school in the first place, would he be kept on a special diet as well? What did they eat on Earth?

And when Victor discovered that Katsuki tended to end up studying at a quiet data terminal in the records room most afternoons, well, Victor figured it wouldn’t hurt to go there and get some more studying done himself.

After a couple of weeks of observation, he’d learned the following about the Earthling: 

Katsuki was a workaholic when he wasn’t napping his way through class. Victor had never seen anyone study this hard, this constantly, and it was an ironic wonder that he was likely falling asleep in class because he spent all of his energy studying outside of it. 

Katsuki was, well, strange. He took his shoes off when he sat down to study at a terminal, curling his legs beneath him gracefully. Rather than use the utensils in the mess hall, he brought his own with him, and they were _sticks_. He wore glasses, and after spotting Katsuki take them off to wipe them and squint at a distant screen, Victor was almost certain that they weren’t for fashion but were actually _functional_. In this day and age. Victor had been taken aback by the bizarre behavior, but he tried to remind himself that Earth must be a very different place.

While he was quiet and withdrawn, Katsuki wasn’t stupid. When professors asked questions and called on students to answer, Katsuki never raised his hand or volunteered to answer, quiet and closed-off. But when Victor glanced at Katsuki’s datapad, he saw that Katsuki almost always had the correct answer ready to go. When he was awake, anyway.

Katsuki was always alone, at least from what Victor had seen of him.

This last discovery came as a surprise to Victor. He was certain that he couldn’t be the only student interested in learning more about Katsuki, and with Katsuki’s charming looks, Victor was certain that there must be plenty of students interested in Katsuki in more ways than one.

But there was Katsuki, at a table by himself in the mess hall despite all the other students around him. There was Katsuki, a lone figure in a familiar spot in the records room. There was Katsuki, walking alone through the crowded hallways. There was Katsuki, standing on the school grounds by himself staring up at the twin suns in the sky. 

Victor had only spoken to Katsuki a few times, but for the most part, he’d gotten a polite but distant reaction at his attempts to chitchat. It was only when Victor asked Katsuki a question about Earth that his eyes finally seemed to have some spark in them, and he looked eager for a moment. Words poured out of his mouth, with excited gestures and wide eyes and smiles, but then Katsuki seemed to catch himself mid-sentence and fell back into silence with an apology. Victor had tried to prod him for more information, but he hadn’t been very successful. 

Maybe Katsuki didn’t want company, and it was nothing more than that. Victor wasn’t entirely convinced, though.

When Victor casually brought up Katsuki’s lone nature with a group of classmates during a team project, one of them scoffed and said, “Of course he’s always by himself. Katsuki’s a _beast_. ” Some of his other classmates looked uncomfortable at the remark but nodded grudgingly.

Victor didn’t know what to say to that. 

Katsuki seemed as human as the rest of them, albeit overly nervous and guarded. Maybe Katsuki was even more human than the rest of them, given his background. 

Victor probably should’ve spoken up in Katsuki’s defense at his classmate’s comment, but he’d been too puzzled at the time. The picture of Katsuki he’d built up in his mind was one of a mildly bizarre loner who was clearly out of place but trying not to make waves. And his face had such gentle features, though Victor admitted his expression was usually stern enough that he wasn’t exactly easy to approach. It was still hard to imagine why anyone might call him a beast.

Victor only learned the meaning behind his classmate’s words and realized his own naivete several weeks later.

It had been a coincidence that led Victor to the botanical gardens on campus that day. 

He was doing a research project on the healing properties of some herbs and plants--he thought it was silly, at first, until his professor had explained that medbays weren’t always an option on away missions, and it was best to have some primitive first-aid knowledge in case he ever ended up on a technologically deficient planet without the use of any medical devices.

Hearing his professor assume that Victor would be in a position to go on surface missions some day was enough to puff up Victor’s pride and motivate him, and Victor had ended up in the gardens for inspiration.

When Victor made his way into the thick of the gardens, he did his best to ignore the background noise that was slowly growing louder, but his curiosity got the best of him when he got near enough to make out the sound as raised voices.

 

“--back to your cave with the rest of the monkeys.”

Laughter.

“I bet he had to have someone hold his hand on the shuttle here! Baby’s first trip away from the playground!”

Victor had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, and he tried to keep his steps quiet as he creeped toward the voices.

“Is it true that they stuck you in a quarantine to test you for primitive diseases?”

“No, no, I bet they had to take time to do genetic testing to determine if he was actually a member of the human species. They probably can’t be too sure. Earth is so backwards, maybe the species on the planet have all regressed, too.”

Snickering. 

When Victor spotted uniform boots through the foliage and peeked around a large, fronded tree, he already knew what he’d see, but he still felt angry at the sight of a group of students crowded around Katsuki, who was staring at the ground with mouth set firmly in a thin line and his face uncharacteristically flushed. 

“He can’t even look us in the eyes! It must be true, then.” Victor didn’t recognize the student who said this, but he immediately hated him and the shark-like grin on his otherwise unremarkable features. “You know, how do we know if he’s even human under that uniform? We’d better check for ourselves and see what else he might be hiding.” The smile morphed into a leer as he cackled.

Anger turned ice-cold in Victor’s veins, freezing his thoughts. “What the _fuck_ are you doing?” 

Victor hardly recognized his own voice and was surprised to find himself standing in the open in front of the cluster of students.

Heads whipped around as the students turned to look at Victor, but Victor could only focus on the way Katsuki’s head shot up and his eyes grew wide and wild with fear at the sight of Victor. 

“None of your business, Nikiforov,” one of the group said, an overweight oaf with beady eyes and a scowl that seemed to fit perfectly on his face like a puzzle piece falling into place. “Just having a little fun.”

“Yeah, fuck off. Or were you planning on watching? Some teacher’s pet you are.” 

Before Victor could reply, another voice gleefully interrupted, “Hah, he started crying!”

Victor was ignored in favor of Katsuki, whose eyes were welling up with tears as he started to take shuddering breaths.

Victor had to step in. He had to do something, to will his body to move, but the ice in his veins had left him frozen solid in place. “Get away from him,” he managed to say, but no one paid him any attention.

“We’d better do him a favor and take his glasses! Wouldn’t want to get them all covered in monkey tears, right?” Someone snatched Katsuki’s glasses off of his face and tossed them aside, where they clattered onto a nearby walkway.

Victor knew that he couldn’t just stand there, but his body wouldn’t move. Couldn’t move.

“Oops, now he’s crying all over his uniform, too!” 

Hands reached out towards Katsuki, yanking on the front of his jacket, and that was when everything stopped making sense.

There was a sickening _snap_ , and the student reeled back with a howl, grabbing his hand and stumbling back into one of the other students. 

Then Katsuki was _gone_ , inexplicably, and Victor only saw the blur of movement, a swift lunge, a leg snapping out and up gracefully and impossibly quick. He heard the crack of a collision into the student’s jaw, and then Katsuki disappeared again, leaping away to strike out at the nearest student with blazing eyes.

Victor suddenly recalled his classmate’s words of warning: _Katsuki’s a beast._

A beast? No. 

Katsuki was _beautiful_. 

He moved effortlessly, like he was weightless, like he was the wind itself as he blew through the students. Victor was spellbound as Katsuki became a whirlwind of blows landing upon the students, flying furiously from one to the next until they all were brought to the ground to cough, to moan, to clutch at stomachs and hands and heads as Katsuki stood above them with heaving breaths and trembling hands.

“Don’t touch me,” Katsuki said, voice cracking but filled with venom, and he wiped at his still-teary cheeks with a bloodied fist. 

Victor’s legs were shaking, but he finally brought himself to move. He grabbed Katsuki’s glasses and stepped towards him hesitantly. “Katsuki, are you… Are you OK?” 

In hindsight, it was a stupid question to ask--almost laughable, really, with Katsuki standing unharmed around his would-be assailants on the ground--but when Victor saw the broken expression on Katsuki’s face, he found himself asking anyway.

“I don’t need your pity.” Katsuki’s face was already flushed, but it seemed to grow redder yet as he looked away.

“I didn’t mean… I’m sorry, I… Your glasses,” Victor replied, his thoughts and words equally disjointed. He held out Katsuki’s glasses.

Katsuki glanced at his face once before reaching out slowly to retrieve his glasses, his fingers brushing against Victor’s for a moment. 

“You won’t tell anyone, will you?” Katsuki bit his lip as he put his glasses back on, looking strangely nervous for someone who’d just beaten off a bunch of students like they were no more than specks of space dust. 

Victor was taken aback by the sudden question. “No, but… You should report this or something, Katsuki, I mean- ”

“No,” Katsuki interrupted firmly, “I can take care of myself.” He paused for a moment before blurting out, “And don’t call me Katsuki. It’s an Earth tradition, and I don’t want it here, not so far away from home and my family.” His voice softened at the mention of Earth, and he looked lost in thought for a moment before saying, “I just want to be Yuuri here. But... Thank you. For caring.” His gaze was warm and a little shy, and he had the barest hint of a smile creeping up on his face. 

It melted away the last of Victor’s anger and left him with a pleasant warmth inside. “Yuuri,” he said with a nod. “You should really report these cadets to the administration.”

Yuuri’s eyes were wide, beseeching. “No, and please… Promise me you won’t tell anyone.”

Victor hesitated, but he couldn’t say no when Yuuri looked so worried at the prospect. “I promise. But-”

One of the students on the ground started coughing loudly, and Yuuri glanced down at them. “No, I… I need to go. They’ll be fine, though. Just forget any of this happened,” he added as an afterthought before bolting past Victor and out of sight, the crunch of his boots on the ground quickly growing distant.

Victor stared blankly at the empty space where Yuuri had stood, and he drifted away in a haze. The rest of the day went by in a blur. Victor couldn’t focus, couldn’t bring himself to do anything. He could only think of the way he’d failed to intervene and the sight of Yuuri’s tear-stained face in contrast with the way he’d taken down the other students, graceful and ethereal. 

A lot of things started to make sense. 

It was no surprise that Yuuri had been so cautious and quiet, if this was how some of the students were treating him. And of course he’d be hesitant to speak about his home planet when it was the source of his ridicule. Why would he have any reason to assume that Victor would be any different? Victor was genuinely curious, of course, but perhaps he hadn’t come across that way to Yuuri. 

Victor felt like a fool, and he was annoyed with himself more than anything else for being naive enough to not even consider the possibility that anyone might be using Yuuri’s heritage against him. After all, weren’t all of the cadets here considered equal once they’d been admitted into the academy? Since the school was government-funded and created to train and educate human cadets before letting them join the fleet, there weren’t even students of any other species here. Everyone should’ve been on the same playing field.

Victor felt more determined to try to talk to Yuuri again when he got the chance. And if Yuuri didn’t want to talk about what had happened, then at the very least Victor could show him that there were people in the academy who would be genuinely interested in him. He felt embarrassed that he hadn’t been able to do anything to stand up for Yuuri, so he told himself that he should at least try to talk to Yuuri and make himself available as a friendly resource.

There was only one thing that didn’t make any sense: the way Yuuri had fought. It hadn’t been like a brawl, and it could hardly even be called a fight, given how one-sided and swift it was. It was like watching a choreographed dance, almost artful in its calculated severity, and it didn’t fit in with anything Victor had seen from Yuuri or his perception of Yuuri’s personality.

After lying awake in his quarters that night tossing and turning, Victor finally gave in and messaged Chris, hoping he’d still be up. 

_V: Chris. Gossip expert. I require your knowledge_

_C: oh?_

_V: About Katsuki_

_C: oh? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)_

_V: Don’t start._

_V: Do you know if he’s in any combat courses?_

_C: this better not be part of your stalking_

_V: NOT stalking, just curious_

_C: sure sure_

_well, you’ll think I’m joking but_

_pretty sure he tested out of all close combat courses_

_Apparently he’s been doing hand-to-hand training since he was a kid_

_V: How do you know that??_

_C: R_

_E_

_A_

_D_

Chris included a link after this and didn’t respond to any further messages. 

Victor really needed to start reading the dean’s bulletins.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------

“I’m going to do it.”

Victor glanced across the cafeteria to where Yuuri Katsuki sat alone by a window, with the warm light of the setting suns outside casting a stark light across his face.

Chris snorted at his words, rolling his eyes. “Victor, darling, you’ve been saying that for a week now. It’s not happening.”

Victor kept his voice down cautiously when he responded despite the fact that there was no one else at their table or even nearby. “I’m serious. I’ve just been waiting for the right moment, that’s all. It’ll come to me.” Victor stabbed at the food at his plate, looking down with a frown.

Chris gave him a withering glance that said he was less than impressed with Victor’s declaration. “OK, this kind of hesitation isn’t like you. What happened?” 

When Victor stayed silent, attempting to look enthralled by the food on his plate, Chris kept going. “Normally, you’d just go right over and say, ‘Hey, I’m pretty sure you have the cutest ass in the quadrant, but I need to do a hands-on inspection for the greater good of the scientific community.’”

“Chris. That’s what _you_ would say.”

Chris waved him off with his spoon. “Sure, sure, but you get the point. Put a little strut in your step! I mean, you got me to sleep with you, and I’m quite a catch.” 

Victor laughed despite himself. “Are you sure it wasn’t the other way around? I don’t know if that’s setting the bar very high or very low.”

“Don’t get so fixated on the details. Anyway, there’s no time like the present. What are you so afraid of? You worried he’s going to kick your ass? I heard the rumors, but I don’t know how much truth there is to them.” Chris looked doubtful as he followed Victor’s gaze. 

The rumors were both completely true and not true at all, but Victor couldn’t explain that, just like he couldn’t explain the anxious flutter in his chest every time he saw Yuuri and the way his heart stopped whenever he thought Yuuri might be looking his way. He knew it was stupid, but it was getting worse by the day, ever since the incident in the gardens.

Victor was never one to ignore an impulse, so he was going to man up and ask Yuuri out. He’d always been quick to act when he decided on something, and he’d decided that he should ask Yuuri out before this expectant pounding in his heart threatened to give him a heart attack. He may not know Yuuri, not really, but he knew he liked him, rational or not. 

“I’m not worried about that; it’s just that we haven’t even had a full conversation before, really.” This was true--Yuuri seemed to be going out of his way to avoid Victor after what had transpired, and Victor hadn’t found a way to get past basic greetings with him.

He hadn’t told Chris about what happened, either. He did make a promise not to, after all.

Chris rolled his eyes. “Right, and if you don’t even go and talk to him, that’s _clearly_ going to help you make that happen.” 

Victor hated it when Chris made sense.

“You’re right.“ Victor stood up and squared his shoulders, taking a deep breath. “I’m going to do it right now.”

“‘Atta boy! And if he shoots you down, don’t sweat it. Katsuki’s as cold as space itself in the first place, and there are other stars in the sky.”

Victor made his way over to Yuuri’s table, and the walk there felt infinitely long as his nerves started to get the best of him. He stood awkwardly in front of Yuuri, suddenly feeling too big for his bones. “Hi, Yuuri.” Yes. Good start.

Yuuri looked up at him with narrowed eyes, suspicion clear as day on his face. “Victor,” he said curtly.

Victor tried not to flinch and smiled. “I know we haven’t had much of a chance to talk.”

Yuuri only looked more suspicious upon hearing his words. “I don’t want to talk about it,” he said.

 _Talk about…?_ “No,” Victor tried to follow up, “I didn’t mean about… Not about that, um, about before. I promise.”

Yuuri relaxed slightly, hunched shoulders easing up and clenched fists uncurling. “What is it, then?”

Victor swallowed and cleared his throat. He tried his best to look casual but still felt stiff and awkward despite his best efforts. “Well, I was wondering if you would like to go out with me.”

Yuuri’s eyebrows shot up, and his mouth opened like he was about to speak, but the only word that came out was a squeaky, “ _What_?”

Victor decided to press on. “I want to get to know you. Can I take you out for lunch or dinner some time, if you’re free…?”

Yuuri’s mouth snapped shut, and he frowned briefly before his expression went slack, an unreadable mask.

“Who put you up to this?”

Victor took a moment to digest the question. “Put me up to this…?”

Yuuri’s gaze turned steely, cold, and impenetrable. “Was it your friend? I saw you guys laughing at me.” 

Victor turned for a moment to look back across the room at Chris, who was pretending to eat and not-so-subtly watching them. “No, we weren’t, I just wanted to ask you-”

“Right, you just wanted to ask me out,” Yuuri snapped. “I’m _sure_ it wasn’t a bet or a joke, right? You think you’re the first one to try this?” He started gathering his things in a rush. “Let’s trick the Earthling, have a good laugh at him. I don’t know how you found out, but--” He bit his lip. “No. I’m not falling for this again.” 

Yuuri looked like he was about to cry as he snatched his tray and jumped up, chair screeching noisily as he shoved it aside and stormed off.

Victor felt eyes on him, but he was too shocked to care. He made the awkward walk back to his table and collapsed into his chair, slumping over the table with a muffled moan of frustration.

“Well…” Chris patted him on the back. “I’ll take it that was a no.”

\-------------------------------

The punch tasted unexpectedly amazing. 

That should’ve been the first warning sign, but Victor was already a few cups in and having a great time. 

He admittedly hadn’t been looking forward to the student gala at the end of the term, but now that he found himself there, it wasn’t so bad. Sure, he was stuck at a mandatory school function in a poorly decorated conference hall in dress uniform with a sad selection of appetizers and administrator-approved nonalcoholic beverages. But the background noise had settled into a pleasant hum, and everybody seemed to be in a good mood.

That probably should’ve been another warning sign, honestly. Nobody was ever happy to attend the stuffy, formal functions at the academy that seemed to serve no purpose other than creating extra opportunities for the administration to give lengthy, grandiose speeches about “the future of mankind.” But today, everyone seemed to have smiles on their faces, looking relaxed and even entertained by what was usually a special kind of torment. 

Victor found himself drifting from group to group of cadets, and he stopped to chitchat for a bit before making his way to the nex. The more students he talked to, the more odd everything seemed, with the world spinning around him and the faces blurring together in a dizzying array of colors and features. 

Victor would be lying to himself if he said he wasn’t keeping an eye out for Yuuri Katsuki as he made his way through the groups of students. Sure, Victor had been shot down spectacularly recently enough that it still stung, but he couldn’t help but hope that he’d run into him at the gala and get another chance. 

Victor stared down at his empty glass, temporarily lost in its depths as he made a silent wish to see Yuuri and make a better impression. 

The glass suddenly disappeared before his eyes, plucked from his hands, and Victor looked back up to see his one of his classmates frowning down at him. 

“I wouldn’t recommend drinking any more.” Seung-gil’s tone was as disinterested as ever, and his face appeared to be the only one in the room still frozen in a stoic glare. “Somebody spiked all the beverages with trecko sap. Impressive, really, that they could’ve smuggled it into the academy grounds in the first place.” He tilted his head to the side, and the mild curiosity visible on his face was the most animated Victor had seen him look. Not that it counted for much. 

Then Victor realized what Seung-gil had said. “Trecko sap?” It had a smooth, mildly fruity flavor that would easily blend in with anything and belie its remarkably potent effect on humans. Ironically, it was feed for _livestock_ on the planet it originated from, having no effect on the creatures whatsoever. In humans, however, it brought on an intoxication that came so suddenly, you had no time to even process the fact that you had gotten drunk. It was going from a complete stop to warp speed, and by the time you realized what was happening, you were going too fast to stop.

It was very popular, very potent, and absolutely not allowed on the school grounds or in the sleeping quarters assigned to students. 

“It must’ve been a fairly small concentration,” Seung-gil continued, staring intently at Victor’s empty glass like it held some secret. “I don’t think there was any ill intent, at the least.” His lips quirked up in what passed for a smile. “It’d take a lot of drinking to do yourself any damage, so I doubt there’s a need for concern for most people here.”

“Most people?” Victor asked.

Seung-gil’s face turned to one of slight distaste. “Yes, well, most people wouldn’t go over 5 glasses of punch, whether or not they knew it was alcoholic.”

“What’s the problem, then?”

“Katsuki,” Seung-gil drawled, and the name still made Victor’s heart leap in his chest. “He hasn’t left the punch bowl since he arrived. He’s been standing there filling his glass up again and again, and…” He did some kind of calculation in his mind. “From what I’ve seen, he’s on his seventh glass. At least.”

Victor swiveled around to look for the refreshments table, but there were too many students in the way to catch a glimpse of anything. “Shouldn’t you have stopped him?!” Victor frowned. “You stopped me.”

Seung-gil shrugged with a distant look in his eyes. “I wanted to see how much alcohol an Earthling could handle. It’s impressive he’s still standing, honestly.” He turned his attention back to Victor. “I have no interest in watching you trip over your own boots after you’ve had too much to drink, though.”

Victor wasn’t sure if he should thank Seung-gil or feel insulted, but he decided to take it as a good thing. 

“Well, while I appreciate the heads up and I hate to ruin your little experiment, I think someone needs to drag Yuuri away from there, if he’s had as much to drink as you say he has.” Victor sighed at Seung-gil’s completely lack of response and walked off, intent on finding Yuuri and stopping him from drinking any more. The floor was still spinning, but his sense of purpose kept him walking straight.

When Victor made his way through the crowd of students over to the refreshments table, there was no sign of Yuuri there, although there was a congregation of students chatting around the platters of food. Victor decided to wait for Yuuri to come back, and he leaned back against the table with crossed arms. 

Maybe Yuuri had gotten himself sick from drinking too much and had left already. What if he needed help? Victor couldn’t stop himself from worrying, even if Yuuri had rejected him and had made it clear he didn’t trust Victor. 

Just when Victor started to consider checking out the bathrooms to make sure Yuuri hadn’t made himself sick, there was a sudden _slam_ on the table next to him as a glass was forcefully set down onto it. “Victor.” 

Speak of the devil. 

Victor turned to see Yuuri propping himself up against the table. Victor guessed that Yuuri was trying to look cool and collected, but unfortunately, it was apparent that the table was the only thing keeping his drooping figure upright. Yuuri was less than steady as he slumped sideways over the table, but he kept his eyes on Victor.

“Yuuri, are you...feeling alright?” Victor asked. He wasn’t sure if he should even attempt to explain the drink situation to someone as far gone as Yuuri clearly was. 

Yuuri frowned, brow creased in inebriated confusion. It was painfully adorable. 

“I’m great. Just greeaaatt. Why’re you asking, though? Since when do you care?” Yuuri sounded bitter even through his drunken slur.

“I was only worried about how much, uh, punch you’ve had to drink tonight.”

Yuuri grabbed his glass and held it up in a mock toast, arm wobbling as he gestured. “This punch... At least this punch is my friend.” 

“Yes, I can see that,” Victor said drily. “Maybe you should set your friend down for a moment, though, so we can talk.” 

Yuuri clutched his glass close to his chest, eyes darting to Victor with suspicion. “Why? S’not like you’re my friend. I thought you were better, but you’re just like the rest.” 

“Like the rest?” Victor prompted.

“Yeah. Fake.”

Victor knew that something bad was coming, but it still stung, even as untrue as it was. “Yuuri, I honestly don’t know what you’re talking about. Did I do something to offend you that I don’t know about? I’m sorry if I did, but… I really can’t remember what I could’ve done.”

“Why are you still pretending now? You saw me at my worst, and then you tried to make fun of me. I already know, I heard everything from JJ.” 

JJ? Victor didn’t even know who that was. “What exactly do you know?” 

Yuuri sighed, like this was obvious. He slumped back against the table, looking out at the room with an unsteady gaze. “Told me you took a bet that you could get me to go out with you, and that if I agreed, you’d tell me you were just joking, ‘cause who would… Who would want me, and then you’d take holovids of the whole thing to show everyone and laugh at me.” 

“ _What?!_ ” Victor grabbed Yuuri by the shoulders and turned him around to face him. “Why would I do something like that?”

“‘Cause you knew I’d say yes. ‘Cause you come across so nice, ‘cause you’re Mr. Popular, ‘cause you’re so gorgeous.” Yuuri didn’t seem to follow his own train of thought as the words spilled out, like his glass of punch was unfortunately spilling out over the front of his uniform. “And it’d be more believable if you asked me out, ‘cause I’d let my guard down. I bet you told everybody what happened,” he mumbled. 

Victor’s face was burning at the compliments thrown in there--were they intended as compliments, though?--but he composed himself. “Yuuri. I didn’t tell anyone. I promised you I wouldn’t, and I wouldn’t break a promise like that. And when I asked you out… I was being serious.” 

Yuuri’s resolve seemed to waver, but then he regrouped and squinted at Victor, face scrunched up in drunken annoyance. “How do I know that? You could just be asking me again ‘cause you still have some bet going, you still want to win it, and nobody… nobody will leave me alone.” Yuuri muttered, more to himself than Victor, it seemed. Yuuri started shaking, and what Victor mistook as anger became obvious as Yuuri shuddered and went pale.

“Yuuri… You don’t look like you’re feeling well. Let’s get you to a bathroom,” Victor decided, and he grabbed Yuuri’s wrist, dragging him out of the room and into the quiet hallway outside, the sounds of the gala muffled into silence as the doors slid shut behind them. Victor thought that Yuuri had given up on protesting and would go along with him quietly, but Yuuri dragged himself over to a wall and slid down, refusing to budge as he settled into an awkward sprawl. 

Victor sighed and crouched in front of Yuuri. “You won’t feel any better if you stay there. I know you don’t trust me, but let’s get you somewhere better than the floor.”

Yuuri only blinked up at him. “Victor,” he crooned, “when I first saw you, I thought that your eyes were the same color the Earth used to be. Sooo beautiful.” 

Victor tried to respond, but Yuuri smushed the palm of his hand against Victor’s mouth with a loud, drunken, “Ssshhhh.” 

“You were always so nice, I thought… maybe you’d be different from the rest.”

Victor gently pried Yuuri’s hand off of his face. “Yuuri, what can I do to get you to believe me? I don’t know who this asshole JJ is, and I certainly didn’t tell him or anyone else anything.”

Yuuri slumped down further and knocked his head back against the wall. “But I saw you watching me all semester. Why?”

Victor wasn’t sure if Yuuri had even processed Victor’s question or if he’d intentionally changed the subject. “I was curious about you,” Victor confessed. “I’d never met an Earthling before, and I admit that was what made me watch you. At first.” 

Yuuri made a noncommittal noise.

“But ultimately I was just interested in you, and I wanted to get a chance to make something happen. I’d still like that.”

Yuuri gave him a contemplative look that was somewhat ruined by his glassy-eyed gaze. “If you were serious, you would… you would kiss me right here.”

Victor did a double-take. “I’d do what?”

Yuuri crumpled his hands into Victor’s chest, creasing the clean lines of his uniform. “If you were serious, you’d kiss me here so I’d know you weren’t just joking. Nobody here to laugh at me, nobody here to see, no reason to do it unless you mean it.” His expression turned gloomy.

Victor gently took Yuuri’s hands in his own. “Yuuri, I don’t know if that’s the best idea right now. You’re… very intoxicated.” It was an extreme understatement, but Victor couldn’t think of any other way to phrase it. “The gala drinks were all alcoholic, and you’ve had quite a lot to drink.”

“So?” Yuuri pouted at him.

“So I don’t know if you understand what you’re saying, if you seriously mean it.” 

“The whole point is I don’t know if _you’re_ serious. So why’re _you_ testing _me_?” Yuuri was full of stubborn non-logic that was a specialty of the drunk and delirious. 

“If I kiss you, you’ll take me seriously, then?” Victor sighed.

Yuuri nodded, his head lilting to the side afterward like it had given up on trying to stay propped up. 

“I guess I don’t have much of a choice, then.” Victor drew closer. 

Yuuri’s whole body tensed up as Victor leaned in, and he squeezed his eyes shut. 

Victor cupped Yuuri’s face in his hands, leaned over him, and kissed the top of his head.

“There.” 

One of Yuuri’s eyes peeked open.

“You’ll trust me now, right?” Victor stood up and brushed off his legs, using the nervous gesture to try to collect himself, even as his heart was pounding wildly in his chest. 

Yuuri didn’t answer, but his face seemed to flush an even more alarming shade of red. 

“Let’s get you back to your quarters, OK?” Victor reached down to take Yuuri’s hand, and this time he went up without a complaint. “You should get some rest, and some water, and when you’re feeling better… Then you should let me take you out.”

Yuuri looked up at him, and his expression softened as he did. The crease in his brow smoothed, his body relaxed, and he smiled, open and eager. “Yeah?” Yuuri looked hesitant but hopeful.

“Would you let me?” 

“OK,” Yuuri said, biting his lip. “Yeah.” His eyes flitted up to Victor’s, and his smile grew even wider before he looked back down at his shoes, shuffling awkwardly. “I’d like that.”

\----------------------------------

Victor didn’t know what he had expected, but he definitely hadn’t expected things to go so far so quickly.

Victor took Yuuri out on his promised date (“No drinks,” Yuuri had said with a grimace), and it had gone so smoothly and felt so right that Victor immediately asked him out again. And again after that. Dates turned into days and nights spent together, and within the span of a few semesters, they’d made the logical choice to move in together instead of spending all their time half-lived in the other’s quarters.

Where Yuuri had seemed so guarded at first, once Victor drew him out of his shell, he was vibrant: full of life and enthusiasm and wit and charm and stories of Earth that were clearly so full of love that it made Victor a little bit jealous.

Yuuri’s shyness melted away into warm affection, and it wasn’t long before Victor could hardly remember a time when Yuuri had ever seemed closed-off and quiet. While slow to open up, once Yuuri seemed reassured that Victor was genuine, he responded with an enthusiasm that surprised Victor. 

Victor loved to listen to Yuuri’s stories and watch him, with his eyes shining and his gestures so animated. It was enough to see Yuuri’s joy, even if Victor didn’t always understand the Yuuri’s culture. When Victor asked Yuuri why he’d left a planet he clearly loved so much, Yuuri’s face had fallen for a moment, but he told Victor that he wanted to bring a piece of the Earth with him everywhere he went, share something of his home planet through himself all around the galaxy by enlisting in public service and joining the fleet. It would give him opportunities to go to so many places he’d miss out on otherwise, and at the same time he could try to leave something of the Earth behind with him everywhere he traveled to. Yuuri told Victor that while the Earth as he knew it would be no more by the end of his life, he wanted to find a way to make some part of it live on. 

It made Victor realize how shallow and empty his own ambitions had always been, and Yuuri’s strong sense of purpose had left Victor looking for his own. Victor had never really contemplated the how or why of his dreams for the future; he’d only ever had a nebulous view of himself in command and in search of adventure and something new to inspire him. Yuuri soon became Victor’s own inspiration, though, and in the end, Victor made a promise to himself to use his own ambitions to help Yuuri’s future. 

By the time graduation grew near and the graduating cadets were preparing to apply for initial internships that would leave them scattered about on ships throughout the galaxy, Victor had already decided that he’d apply for an internship in a medbay placement and aim for a permanent position on medical staff. Yuuri would be going into security work, without a doubt, and Victor saw the medical field as his best chance at keeping the two of them together. It seemed likely that they’d be allowed to go on a placement together with Yuuri in security and Victor in a medbay. The fields would be separate enough that there wouldn’t be any worries about fraternization, and being present as Yuuri’s partner on the medical team would probably leave the administration reassured that Yuuri would stay safe on his assignment. Victor was certain they’d give his request to be assigned together a stamp of approval.

The problem had come, unexpectedly, from Yuuri. When Victor told Yuuri his intention to go into medical science to keep them together, Yuuri had been _furious_ and told him it was completely unacceptable. He told Victor that he couldn’t waste his future and dreams by abandoning his hopes of getting in a position of command some day in the future. Everybody knew that officers in medbays never went anywhere but medbays. At best, he’d be able to hope for a crossover into another science division, but he’d be entering a field with no path to greater responsibilities or higher placements. 

Yuuri knew that as well as anyone. But Yuuri also had to know that they’d be much more likely to be separated if Victor went into any other division. 

Victor had been shaken by Yuuri’s response. He’d always thought that the two of them were on the same page, that they were both serious about their future together, but Yuuri was basically telling him to throw it all away and leave it up to chance. 

They’d argued and fought over it, getting nowhere even as the deadline for applications drew near. Victor started to consider the possibility that this would be the last time he’d get to be with Yuuri, and in the end he decided to put off making a decision until he last moment and cherish what time they had left together. Victor thought long and hard about how to make the most of their time together, however much time it may be, and when he realized they had a bit of leave to travel, the choice was clear.

Victor told Yuuri he wanted to see Yuuri’s home planet while they had the chance, and while it hadn’t completely mended things between them, it was the best distraction Victor could offer them, the best temporary escape from facing the future. 

And so Victor had gone to Earth, just the once.

The timing couldn’t have been better, as all of the graduating cadets had been given a few weeks of leave. Victor and Yuuri weren’t the only ones facing an uncertain future, and for many cadets, this might be the last chance in years to visit family and friends before getting assigned to an internship that could leave them galaxies away.

Yuuri always had stars in his eyes when he talked about growing up on Earth, and though Victor had a hard time imagining what Yuuri could possibly miss about such a barren and sad-looking planet, he wanted to see Yuuri happy and see what about the planet made Yuuri so happy. When Victor told Yuuri, “I can’t wait to meet your family,” the beaming smile on Yuuri’s face had almost healed the cracks in his heart left from their fights. 

Victor’s nerves had only set in on the long trip there--3 days spent in cramped quarters on a low-class passenger freighter was the best he could afford on a student’s budget, though Yuuri hadn’t said a word of complaint. Yuuri managed to keep him distracted for some time with his sweet words and his sly hands, purring, “We’ll be stuck in bed all day here. How will we ever pass the time?” But in the quiet hours in between with Yuuri sleeping curled up next to him, Victor found himself staring at nothing and descending into worst-case scenarios. 

What if the Earth was so backwards that Victor couldn’t quite hide his reaction? What if he couldn’t find anything nice to say about a place that was clearly so dear to Yuuri?

What if Yuuri’s parents didn’t like him? What if this was truly their last chance to be together if they ended up getting assigned to different vessels after graduation? Was Yuuri not worried about it because he didn’t feel the same as Victor? Would Yuuri wait for him if they were sent to opposite ends of the universe? 

Yuuri looked so peaceful and happy cuddled up against his chest, though. Victor wished that he could follow suit and enjoy their time together without letting worries get in the way, but he couldn’t stop the thoughts from creeping into the back of his mind. It seemed ironic to finally be the person fretting over things when Yuuri was the one prone to worrying, and he wondered how Yuuri could seem so at peace with the whole thing. Considering the possibilities only hurt him more, so he tried his best not to think about it.

When the journey to the Earth came to an end and they stood at the main viewport watching as the planet came into view, Yuuri was vibrating with excitement, his eyes gleaming as he looked upon the dull, cracked, fractured face of the planet. Victor was less than impressed with the view, but he instead burned into memory the view of Yuuri’s face alight with happiness. 

They transferred to a planetary shuttle that would take them down to the surface and the biodome Yuuri grew up in, a small town that was once part of a chain of islands in the ages long since passed when the planet’s surface still had water. Yuuri excitedly told Victor about how his town had been picked for preservation mainly to save the natural springs in the area, and Victor let the words wash over him as he looked upon the blur of endless brown spreading out before them. 

When they stepped off the shuttle into the tiny spaceport, it was to little fanfare and plenty of bewilderment on Victor’s part. There were educational screens plastered all around, explanations flickering by in a multitude of languages on outdated displays, and there only seemed to be more of them as they left the building and walked through tiny, winding streets. The neon glow of an endless stream of screens provided a strangely garish background in contrast with the actual buildings and scenery around them.

 

Everything else around them looked like a snapshot frozen in time, from the people to the buildings, like the whole town had been taken from eons past and planted in modern times. Only glimpses of modern electronics inside buildings and the sight of locals chatting away on standard portable datapads kept Victor from feeling like he was completely out of place in time and space. Even then, he still felt like he’d become part of a museum exhibit.

The town was quiet and sleepy, and the only people they passed appeared to be elderly local residents. “Tourism isn’t what it used to be,” Yuuri explained, shaking his head. “But during other times of the year it’s still a lot more lively with visitors.” Victor was highly doubtful, but he didn’t want to say as much and hurt Yuuri’s pride.

Victor was also surprised to find that everywhere they went, people recognized Yuuri. Strangers would stop on the streets the instant they spotted him, and many would greet Yuuri by name, wave at him, come up to shake his hand, or sing his praises to Victor.

“I had no idea you were such a local celebrity!” Victor laughed.

Yuuri blushed and looked down at his feet. “It’s no big deal. I mean, I’m nobody special. It’s just because I got accepted to the academy, and as you can see, that’s not that common around here. People don’t get out much.”

Victor found it hard to believe anyone could stand to be cooped up in such a small space, honestly. He tried to imagine spending years trapped in such an insular town without the freedom of space around him, and he felt smothered already. When he looked around and saw the flickering glow where the borders of the barrier reached the outer limits of the town, he had the impression he was trapped in a cage. If he had to spend his life in a rickety old town with no scenery but the expansive desert around them, surrounded by death and decay pressing in on all sides, he’d be dying to get out as soon as possible. 

Yuuri, however, looked completely at ease as he dragged Victor through the streets. He seemed lighter than air as he took Victor by the hand and pointed out this and that, and when he finally stopped at the gates of a quaint little building, he looked ready to bounce out of his own skin with excited energy. 

Yuuri hardly had time to shout out, “I’m home!” before the front doors slid open ( _manually opening doors_ , Victor’s mind screeched) and a group of people emerged to sweep up Yuuri into a group hug, everyone chatting away at once. 

“You must be Yuuri’s Victor!” a chubby-cheeked woman exclaimed, and Victor found himself added to the hug, confused but soon giving in to the celebratory spirit.

Victor had never seen Yuuri shine like he did on Earth. Whether he was carrying around piles of linens with his sleeves rolled up, muscular forearms flexed, or helping his parents in the kitchen ( _a kitchen_ , Victor’s mind screeched), Yuuri apparently knew how to do anything and everything. Victor felt useless, but when he asked if he could help with anything, Yuuri only kissed him on the cheek and invited him to relax and take it easy.

And so relax he did, soaking for hours in the natural springs, lazing around Yuuri’s home, eating all kinds of strange and foreign foods, and taking long walks through the town.

He had to confess there was an appeal to the peaceful feeling there, removed from reality and frozen in time. Victor could _almost_ see how Yuuri might feel at ease in such a familiar place, with no surprises, nothing that would ever change, and no real worries.

But Victor couldn’t completely escape his own worries about what lay ahead for the two of them once they went back to real life. Yuuri looked like he’d forgotten all of his troubles while surrounded by his family and friends, but Victor was often isolated with his thoughts as he wandered through the unfamiliar streets. With each passing day, he felt his heart grow heavier with dread at all of the possible outcomes after graduation. He feared what Yuuri’s response would be if he asked if Yuuri would wait for him should they be assigned to extended internships on separate vessels.

On their last night on Earth, Yuuri went with him for a walk to the border of the town, stopping to lean against a long guard rail in front of the barrier.

“You know, there was once an ocean here, a long time ago,” Yuuri said, looking out across the horizon. “It’s hard to imagine it now, but when I was little, I used to make-believe I’d traveled back in time and was in the height of humanity here.” He smiled to himself, lost in the memories. “I’ve never actually seen an ocean,” he confessed with a wry smile after a moment’s silence.

Victor knew that Yuuri had never experienced life outside of this isolated community on a distant planet before he went to the academy, but it was at times like this that he realized the depth of experiences Yuuri had missed out on. 

“I’d love to take you to see one some day,” Victor said quietly, hoping that Yuuri would read the unspoken question behind it, the desire to have a future together.

Perhaps Yuuri had heard, and perhaps he hadn’t, but he didn’t respond to Victor’s statement, looking up at the night sky instead. “The stars in the sky are still almost the same as they were back then,” he said. “It’s funny how some things can change so much while others seem to stay the same. I used to worry I’d be like this town, too, never changing, and I was pretty scared to leave it behind.”

Victor rested his head on Yuuri’s shoulder and looped an arm around his waist, looking up at the stars with him.

“I knew there had to be something else out there for me, though. And now that I have what I never knew I wanted, I don’t want to let go of it.”

Victor’s heart thumped dangerously in his chest, anxiety swirling in his gut. Was this where Yuuri apologized, told him he loved him but this was it, and he had to put his career first? 

“I understand,” he managed to say, heart in his throat. “I won’t… I won’t get in your way.”

“ _No.”_ Yuuri jerked away and grabbed Victor by the shoulders. His eyes gleamed in the dark, full of fire. “Don’t you get it? It’s you. It’s always been you.” In lieu of an explanation, he let out an exasperated sigh and swooped in, lips crushed against Victor’s as he grabbed a fistful of his hair. Victor gasped against him before kissing back, skin ablaze where Yuuri touched him. 

“Yuuri-” he started, but his words were muffled when Yuuri dived back in for another kiss.

“Let’s get married,” Yuuri whispered suddenly, breathlessly, pulling back to rest their foreheads together. “They won’t take you away from me. If they try to split us apart even then, I’ll quit and come with you as your husband. I can still see the universe either way, but as long as I’m with you, I don’t care about how I get there.”

“Yes,” Victor replied immediately, and he didn’t care if his voice trembled with emotion. “Yes, Yuuri, yes.” 

On his last night on a dead planet, in a town that was dying out, surrounded by the incessant hum of a barrier reminding him of the transience of it all, Victor had never felt more full of life.

* * *

NOW

* * *

It wasn’t that Victor didn’t have his own treasured memories from the brief time he spent on Earth with Yuuri, but he didn’t have the same emotional connection or familiarity that Yuuri did. He’d been there for such a short amount of time, while Yuuri had lived there for 20 years. And while Victor loved a life of exploration in space and the thrill of always going somewhere new, Yuuri had always been more of a homebody who took comfort in the familiar among the unknown. 

Yuuri had told Victor that he wanted a chance to go home again, to have something real again, but that wasn’t possible. 

But… If Victor couldn’t bring Yuuri home again, what about bringing a piece of home to Yuuri instead? It was just like Yuuri had told him so long ago, his desire to bring the Earth with him wherever he went… Maybe Victor could do something to remind Yuuri of all of the wonderful things from Earth that still lived on in some way.

Victor tried to think about what had made Yuuri happiest during their time on Earth. There were the natural springs, but he couldn’t hope to reproduce something like that aboard a research vessel, of course. Making love in Yuuri’s childhood bedroom? _Definitely_ not helpful now. 

Then Victor remembered Yuuri with his cheeks all puffed up adorably as he dug in to a heaping bowl of his mother’s cooking. The way his eyes closed in happiness, and the way he moaned that was _just_ on this side of appropriate.

And the way Yuuri had been picking at food from the replicator for weeks now… Yuuri had been looking unwell--not just mentally but physically, with his face pale and drawn, body growing lean in all the wrong ways and leaving him looking gaunt and haunted. It wouldn’t surprise Victor if Yuuri had been losing weight, and he couldn’t let him keep this up.

Victor needed to get Yuuri to eat, he needed to cheer him up, he needed to do something special, and he needed to do something to remind Yuuri of his home planet in a _pleasant_ way.

Victor needed to cook.

Victor would say that he could count the number of times he’d been in a kitchen on one hand, but since the number was zero, he could even count hands-free. Even when he’d visited the Earth, he’d only observed the Katsukis’ kitchen with a sense of mild curiosity, never going into it himself. Victor was completely hands-off when it came to food. He was happy to eat just about anything, sure, but that didn’t mean he knew the first thing about how the food would’ve been made if it hadn’t popped out of a replicator.

The ship didn’t have a kitchen, either. How was he going to cook without one of those?

Well, he could deal with that later. For now he needed to figure out what to make for Yuuri, and he couldn’t do that on his own. It had been so long ago that he had visited Yuuri’s hometown; there was no way he could remember the names of any of the foods or dishes he’d eaten there. It was all a blur in his mind at this point. He needed help.

Victor was hesitant to contact Yuuri’s family, though. Victor was almost certain that Yuuri himself hadn’t even talked to his parents in the past month. Yuuri was probably waiting to process the news all by himself before he talked to his parents to get the details about what happened, to find out where they had gone and how they were doing. Maybe he was afraid that his parents would be just as unhappy as he was, and there would be nothing he could do about it. 

Whatever his reasons may have been, Yuuri hadn’t spoken with them, and Victor tried to be respectful by doing the same. It felt too strange to be the first one to talk to the Katsukis after their lives had been upheaved, instead of their own son, and Victor figured that Yuuri would come around sooner or later and get in touch with them.

However, it was clear to Victor that he needed Yuuri’s parents’ knowledge to make some kind of plan. 

Victor was still never one to wait after he’d come to a decision, so as soon as he decided that there was no way to move forward without talking to the Katsukis, he sent them a message requesting a video call at a time he knew Yuuri would be away on security duty. He had a momentary pang of guilt, but since he was doing this for Yuuri’s sake, he figured it was worth any lectures he might get later.

When the time came to speak with the Katsukis, Victor started to feel nervous, but he hoped that he’d see smiles on the other end and not the gloomy expression he’d seen plastered on Yuuri’s face. 

“Vicchan!” Hiroko’s face appeared on-screen. “I’m so happy to hear from you! We were worried about you and Yuuri.” She looked anxious, but nowhere near as bad as Victor had anticipated.

“Worried? About _us_?” Victor felt like this conversation should’ve started off the other way around. 

“That’s right.” Toshiya’s voice chimed in, and the image on the screen panned out to include him in the video display. “We haven’t heard from him in weeks.”

Victor didn’t know what to say to that. From the way they were talking, it was as if nothing was out of the ordinary, as if this was nothing but a regular chat, and that only made it feel all the more surreal. “Wait, what about you? Yuuri and I saw the news, and…” He trailed off.

Hiroko and Toshiya glanced at each other, some unspoken message shared between them. “We’re sorry we didn’t get a chance to tell you beforehand, but it was pretty sudden for us, too. It all happened so fast. We decided to take some time to decide where to move to next, so for now we’re still staying at the temporary lodging the government set up.”

“Is everything OK, though?” Victor frowned. 

“Oh, honey, we’re fine. As long as we have each other, that’s all that matters.” Hiroko patted Toshiya on the hand and smiled. “It’s true that we would’ve loved more time on Earth, but we knew this day would come sooner or later. We’re just grateful for the time we had. And not many people can brag that they were the last humans on planet Earth!”

Victor was relieved by the Katsukis’ good humor, and he wondered if Yuuri might have cheered up sooner, too, if he’d seen that his parents were happy and well. 

“Where’s Yuuri, though?” Toshiya asked.

Victor ran his hand through his fringe, sweeping it to the side. “About that… He hasn’t taken the news very well. Honestly, he’s pretty down about it.”

“Oh, Yuuri, he always was so stubborn. I know he had a hard time in the academy when he first left, but I think that only made him more determined to take pride in his identity, and that hasn’t changed.” Hiroko sighed.

“We’ll always be Earthlings, wherever we go,” Toshiya added. “I think Yuuri just needs to see that nobody can take that away from him, that he is who he is no matter what may become of the Earth.”

Victor nodded. “I know, but I think it’ll still take some time. There was one thing I was hoping you could help me with in the meantime, though…” Victor said hesitantly.

“What’s that, dear?”

“I was hoping that I could cheer up Yuuri with some traditional food and… cook something.” Saying the words out loud was enough to make Victor feel like breaking into a nervous sweat.

“That’s a lovely idea! You know, they say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” Hiroko playfully poked her husband in the stomach.

“And my family recipe for katsudon is just what Yuuri needs!” Toshiya boasted.

“Katsudon?”

“Katsudon,” they replied in unison.

“Tell me everything.” Victor steeled himself and got ready to take notes. 

After an overload of information, Victor finished the call, thanking them for their help and promising that he’d get Yuuri to talk to them soon.

 

Unfortunately for Victor, a universal translator wouldn’t be much help when it came to understand the language of cooking, so he was on his own to decipher his notes. 

It was going to take more work than he thought.

Victor spent his free time over the next few days reading up on cooking to try to make sense of the recipe he’d been given. For better or worse, this was easier to get away with than he expected with Yuuri still in a prickly mood.

Once he had an idea of what he should do, he ran into the problem of equipment and ingredients. Victor figured that with such short notice, he’d have to make do with base ingredients from the replicator and hope that Yuuri would forgive him for lacking the real thing and appreciate the intent. And for cooking equipment? Well, there certainly wasn’t any of that to be found on the ship, but the science labs offered open heat sources and durable containers of all shapes and sizes. And what more could he really need? He’d borrow some bowls and cutlery from the mess hall, ask for a few favors and scrape together some tools from the med lab for cutting and carrying ingredients. 

The only hard part left would be coordinating a way to have Yuuri show up at the labs at just the right time, but he’d find a way. With Yuuri being overly cautious and slightly suspicious of Victor lately, he’d need to think of an excuse that would be believable enough to get a security officer to show up at the labs, and he’d need to get outside help to avoid suspicion. One of the interns seemed to have a slight obsession with Yuuri, so he could probably be convinced to help out. Victor would deal with the headache-inducing youthful enthusiasm and high-pitched squealing, if that’s what it took.

When all of his plans were finally ready to be put into action and Victor found himself stumbling into one of the smaller lab rooms with armfuls of raw ingredients and assorted cutlery, he got some stares from the science officers present in the main lab. He cheerily announced, “Doing an important experiment!” and put in his security code to lock the door behind him. This would keep anyone from coming in and disturbing him, and if things went wrong, nobody would be there to see anything. Not that anything was going to go wrong. 

Rice? Dumped into a heat-resistant beaker with some water and left over heat to do... whatever it was going to do.

Pork cutlets? He would power through his disgust at the slimy, wobbly blobs of flesh. The Katsukis’ instructions for making some kind of coating for these seemed to involve far too many measurements and far too many containers, so he decided to improve on it and dump everything together after going with his gut instinct on how much to use. More ingredients meant more flavor, right? It was so simple.

He dunked the vile slabs of raw meat in his mixture until he could pretend he was looking at something more appetizing, but the way they seemed to drip a bizarre mix of goo and soggy clumps didn’t help much. No need for worrying, though. Cooking was some kind of sorcery that would make it all work out.

He tossed the meats onto a heated plate and followed the Katsukis’ instructions to let them sit there until they were brown. No one had told him how brown they were supposed to be, so he 

waited until they’d all turned a pleasant dark shade that reminded him of Yuuri’s beautiful eyes. 

Victor tried to cut into the onions he’d brought, but they seemed to have some kind of toxic fume that burned his eyes, so he decided to hold off on those. There must’ve been some secret that the Katsukis’ had forgotten to tell him about how to neutralize the poison, so he decided to play it safe and leave them out. He couldn’t have Yuuri getting sick from poison. 

All he needed to do now was throw some eggs and liquids over the meat until it solidified. Done and done. Pieces of the eggs’ outer coating got mixed in when he smashed them on top of the meat, but Victor did a pretty good job of picking up the little white shards. Cooking was more tedious work than he’d thought.

Now Victor’s masterpiece was ready to go. He broke off several bricklike chunks of rice, put them in bowls he’d borrowed from the mess hall, and topped them off with one of the meat pieces and some of the liquid and eggs around it. He’d forgotten to cut the meat after he cooked it, but to be honest, that didn’t seem like a big problem. Maybe Yuuri wouldn’t notice.

Speaking of Yuuri… Victor needed to make sure he set the mood before Yuuri arrived. He draped a cloth over one of the lab counters, turned down the lights and adjusted the settings on his portable console so that it would let out a low, warm glow around the room. He brought out his centerpiece, an Earth globe. 

He wasn’t overdoing it, was he? He set aside the globe, thinking he could always pull it out later in a spectacular display.

Before Victor had time to let any doubts creep into his mind about anything else, he heard a rap on the door and an excited, “VICTOR, SIR, I brought Yuuri!!” 

So much for a surprise. 

Victor unlocked the door, letting it slide open with a _whoosh_ , and he squinted through the bright light outside the room to see Yuuri’s familiar silhouette and a smaller figure next to him bouncing on his heels.

Victor sighed and pressed his fingers to his temples in an attempt to ward off the oncoming headache that had started to form. “Thank you, Minami, you can go,” he said with a nod to the intern, and then he dragged Yuuri inside and shut the door again.

Yuuri’s expression was guarded, and there was a wariness in his eyes as they darted around the room. “Victor… What’s this about? And what’s that _smell, god?_ ” He coughed once and scrunched up his nose.

“Yuuri.” Victor reached out to take Yuuri’s hands in his own. “I wanted to do something special for you, but first I wanted to talk to you. I want you to know that I will make any effort for you, do anything for you, just to see you smile again. I’m sorry I haven’t been at my best lately.”

Yuuri looked down at the ground, his expression softening slightly. “No, I should apologize, mean, I haven’t been any better,” he mumbled. Yuuri’s hands were limp in his, but he didn’t pull away.

Victor took a deep breath. “I talked to your parents.”

Yuuri’s hands squeezed down suddenly. “You did _what_?”

Victor explained the conversation he’d had with Yuuri’s parents, and by the end of it, tears were streaming down Yuuri’s cheeks. These weren’t tears of sorrow, though, but relief as the tension that had been keeping him wound tight for weeks was finally released.

“I was so worried,” he said, voice wobbling. “I thought they’d be mad at me because… because I never made it back to see them on Earth again.” He smiled then, and while it was lopsided, it was sincere. “I feel so stupid now, but…”

Victor stepped in to hug him and shushed him gently. “Oh, Yuuri, everything’s going to be fine. And when you feel ready to talk to your parents, they’d love to hear from you.”

“‘’m sorry,” Yuuri mumbled into his shoulder. “I just got so worried, about what my parents would think, about all the missed opportunities, about everything that’s gone... And I just wanted to have it back, even though I know it’s impossible.”

“I know,” Victor said. “But we’ll find a way to keep some part of it, OK?”

“Thank you,” came Yuuri’s muffled voice. “But…” He raised his head from Victor’s shoulder. “Why are we in the science labs?”

Right. Victor had completely forgotten about the reason he lured Yuuri here in the first place.

“Oh! Yuuri, I have a surprise for you.” He took Yuuri by the hand and led him over to the makeshift dinner table he’d set up on the counter, urging him to sit at a stool. “I made something for you, to remind you of home.” He gestured with all the grandeur he could muster at the bowls of katsudon.

Yuuri looked nonplussed as he stared down at Victor’s efforts. “Um… What is it? If this was an experiment in my honor, I might need an explanation.” 

“Well, it was kind of an experiment, but… not like that!” Victor handed Yuuri a spoon. “I cooked something for the first time in my life! For you!” 

Yuuri looked increasingly skeptical. “But, uh… Why? What is it?” 

“Try it first!” Victor encouraged him. “I’m not sure how it turned out, but…”

Yuuri hesitantly dipped his spoon in, the contents of the bowl showing a suspicious amount of resistance. He brought the food to his mouth and looked contemplative for a moment as he chewed, crunching loudly. (was it supposed to crunch?) 

Victor saw the grimace on Yuuri’s face and rushed to explain himself. “I’m sorry, I’ve never tried before, but… It was supposed to be katsudon.”

“Katsudon?” Yuuri paused.

“Yeah, but…” Victor started feeling bashful. “I talked to your parents, right? I know you love their cooking, and I wanted to make something for you, something real, the real way, just like you wanted, and they helped me with a recipe, but the equipment here’s all wrong, and it didn’t completely go the way I hoped it would, but I wanted to give you a piece of home, and it was all I could think of. You haven’t been eating well, and I was worried about you, and… Yuuri?” Victor stopped his babbling when he saw fresh tears start to roll down Yuuri’s cheeks. “Did I… Did I do it right? It’s wrong, isn’t it… ”

“Victor,” Yuuri interrupted, a shaky smile on his face through the tears. “This is the most disgusting thing I’ve ever eaten.” 

Victor’s face fell, but when Yuuri saw his expression, he laughed after wiping his eyes. “It’s the most disgusting thing I’ve ever eaten, but…” Yuuri looked around the lab, surveying the damage. “I don’t think anyone’s ever put more effort and love into cooking for me, so it still… It still tastes like home, in a way.” 

Yuuri reached across the counter to take his hands. “But… Maybe we should leave the cooking to my parents.” 

Victor laughed and squeezed back. “Maybe… But it can’t be that bad, can it?” He turned an eye to the bowl contemplatively, but Yuuri quickly shoved it out of his reach.

“I can see what you’re thinking, and I love you too much to let you try to eat this,” Yuuri said, looking amused. 

Victor struggled with warring feelings of _“Yuuri loves me that much”_ and _“Yuuri hates my attempt at cooking that much,”_ but he took the blow to his pride with as much grace as he could muster and decided that seeing Yuuri smiling again was the most important thing. 

“The next time we’re in between missions, you should take me to visit your parents again,” Victor urged him. “If I can’t give you a taste of home, then your parents should be able to, at least! Maybe they can teach me something, and I know they’d be happy to see you.”

“I’d like that,” Yuuri said. He looked around the lab, surveying the damage with a shake of his head, and added, “but I think that I’d better take care of my actual home first.” He stood up, leaned over to kiss Victor on the forehead, and immediately started bustling around to clean up Victor’s mess.

To someone who didn’t know Yuuri better, he would’ve looked like he was focused on the task at hand, unmoved and all business. But Victor could spot the telltale flush creeping across Yuuri’s face, the way he seemed to pick up and rearrange the same objects again and again, his constant glances back at Victor. He knew Yuuri was pleased but embarrassed, and when he saw Yuuri roll his eyes at him and tease, “A globe, Victor, really?” he knew everything was going to be OK. He still wanted to try that katsudon he'd made, though.

"And don't even touch those bowls."

Yeah. It was going to be OK.


End file.
